


Wild & Free

by lovelyginger



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe- Mermaid, M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-17
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-03-13 10:29:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3378182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelyginger/pseuds/lovelyginger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With spawning season right around the corner Tachibana Makoto's life is turned upside down when he discovers that he is half merfolk and his friends are not as normal as he had once thought them to be. In fact nothing about his island home is. It's time for him and his friends to make the decisions of their lives and their families wont be around to help.<br/>Mean while deep in the sea two sharks have a similar choice to make and set off on a quest to find their life mates.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm what?

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the manga Wild Fish, check it out sometime. I am in no way copying anything, nor the owner of either Wild Fish or Free!, however things just sorta fall right out of my head this way.  
> BTW, Major OOCness here, don't expect it to be good. I tried to keep it close, but, well... yeah, so have fun with that. XD

This is not what Makoto was expecting when his mother had called him into the kitchen to have an 'adult discussion', meaning away from the young ears of his twin siblings. He had been preparing all day for this conversation, which he assumed was about his sexuality. Makoto had made his sexuality very clear and it was a small island town after all, his parents had to have heard about his little coming out scene by now. 

However he had never thought they would act as they were, his parents were usually calm and collective about everything. If anything he expected his mother to be slightly excited or sympathetic about it, and maybe his father would be secretly disappointed in having raised a gay son. He thought that the worst part in their eyes would be the public display he had made of himself when he kissed Haru and declared the emotionless, hydrophilic, to be his boyfriend. Except the fidgeting nervous wrecks that sat before him on the other side of the kitchen nook hit a deep bass chord of guilt within him and he suddenly felt worse than he had when he had played out the scene in front of so many on lookers. 

"If this is THE TALK, I'll let you know it was covered in school, so you really don't have to do this." he said and scratched his neck as his attempt to lessen the tension failed. 

His mother flinched visibly and looked as if she had swallowed nails, tears forming in her eyes and fist clenched so tight the colour left them. His father cleared his throat, gaining the brunette's attention. 

"Well, you see son, that is only a tiny aspect of the reason we want to talk to you." He ground out with a face suddenly looking regretful and guilty. 

'Oh god, they must have heard' Makoto thought as he sprung to defend himself. " Whatever you've heard it's only half true, I mean I am gay, but Haru was just a cover to get a stalker off my back, I'm still me and I still love you and will do my best not to disappoint you, please don't be upset, I'll never make a scene like that again, and I'm really, really-" he rambled without taking a breath until his mother cut him off. 

"Sweety, this isn't about that, though we-" she paused to look at his father who looked slightly surprised by the anouncement and corrected herself. "- I, figured you were gay a while ago. I assumed you'd been dating Haru secretly for a while, don't deny that you did, a mother knows." she calmed her son and herself slightly as she stroked his hand within her own. 

The teen blinked in shock, she had been right, he had dated Haru for a year a while ago, however they didn't work out, they had discovered that they were more in love with eachother in a brotherly deep dedication way than in a romantic way. "Well, then, what is this about?" he stammered out. 

"Well you see... Your mother has something to tell you." his father said passing the buck. 

"Thanks." his mother said sarcastically before continuing, not letting go of her son's hand as she proceeded. "What your father means is, Makoto honey... Well I'm, I'm a mermaid, and therefore, you are half mermaid, sorry merman."she looked up as if to check that that was the right word. 

The teen started laughing, this had to be a joke right? Nope, his parents stared at him until his laughter died into nervous pant-like noises. They had serious faces on, this was no joke to them. He fell silent for a while and stared into their eyes, when he saw concern and honesty staring back into his green eyes he coughed and settled into the mood. "... Ok, please explain? Possibly show me your fin as proof too?" he said in a serious tone. 

"Well, I can't show you my fin cause I lost it to stay on land with your father." His mom explained.

"Oh my god, I'm related to Ariel." Makoto half joked as it started to sink in. 

His mother continued ignoring him. "Makoto honey, it's not just us. It's most of the island. Your friends, and school mates, your teachers and, well, everyone on the school swim team. " Makoto made to talk but his mother silenced him. "Let me explain everything before I forget and then you can ask questions, ok?" she asked to which her son nodded. 

"Hmm, well where shall I start... Ok, I know. Merfolk are not as mythical as we seem. We exist all over the place, on land and at sea. A long time ago merfolk created a gene manipulation that would allow for merpeople to go up on land, but over the years the manipulation has gone from changing into a fin in water to a simple on or off decision a merperson has to choose in their adolescence. When I came of age I chose to be a legged humanoid and live in land, trust me it wasn't easy, the water calls you like nothing ever has, but I loved your father and stayed with him. We decided not to tell you or your siblings so that you could grow up without pressure about it..." she paused and patted her son's head softly. 

"Makoto you are at your age of maturity, soon the full force of your first spawning season will be upon you, and by the end of it you will have to make your decision. Stay on land, or leave for the sea." she finished. 

"How do you know I've reached maturity? and who else knows about this?" he asked in awe. 

"Well as of yesterday, everyone who is a merperson knew that you were one as well, because as of yesterday your scent has come in. Meaning you've made it to maturity and have the scent of a merman." she explained. 

"So, wait, I'm letting out mer-pheramones?" he asked suspiciously,"How come I can't tell?" 

"Because you are still gaining your still going through transition and not yet trained to understand what you are sensing. Speaking of training, it's time for you to go pack, they'll be here any minute to get you." she said and stood and dragged her son to his room where she helped him pack a large duffle.

"Go?, Go where?" Makoto asked as he packed halfheartedly. "And who are you talking about? Who's coming?" he added dropping a few shirts into the bag. His mother busied herself with packing and it was his father who answered. 

"You will be going to the cove for lessons and training on your fishy tidbits and such. It's some sort of tradition to send the maturing to the camp so that they can make their own decision come time, and not be pressured either way by family. As to who, well you'll see when they get here." 

Twenty minutes later he was all packed and waiting by the door. He stared out into the sky as night fell and the once silent streets of his island town had a burst of action as teens were ushered away into the darkness, most likely other mer-teens heading to the cove. He was distracted lost in thought, just trying to wrap his head around it all when a body flung into him with the exclamation "Mako-chan!"

He looked up from where he had toppled over in the grass to find the entire iwatobi swim club standing in his yard. 

"Hello Makoto, isn't it a beautiful night to be going to the cove?" Rei said over Nagisa's shoulder as he helped the smaller teen up.

"Let's get going." was all Haru said as he lead the group out into the night and towards the cove.

"So you all knew?" Makoto pouted. "You knew and you didn't tell me!?" he asked incredulously as he followed after them.

"Don't feel bad Mako-chan, most of us only found out yesterday. Besides, it's your parents duty to tell you, we didn't want to scare you or anything." Nagisa said and swatted him on the back. 

"Whait, what do you mean most of you?" Makoto whined. Why the hell was he the last to know? 

"I knew." Haru said simply and stared at the tallest of the group for a while. Makoto could tell by his eyes that Haru had known for a very long time, but had kept it from him for some reason, most likely a family related reason. The brunette sighed, there was no helping it now he had to just go on from here and hopefully survive this training camp.


	2. The Cove

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is this a thing, like really, you expect me to tell you what's about to happen in the chapter? Where's the fun in that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random fact: did you know that a group of sharks is called a shiver? I had to look it up.

The time had finally come, Rin had been worried that he would not reach his maturity in time for the upcoming spawning season, but as the sun had set his scent came in. Which had worked out perfectly since he had just made it in time to catch the same shiver heading to the cove as his best friend Sousuke. The white tip reef shark swam as fast as he could as he caught up with the shiver, when he had caught up he swam circles around the larger whale shark until the slightly annoyed friend smacked him mid circle with is long, strong tail, rolling his eyes all the while. 

"I made it!" Rin cheered happily as he recovered from being swatted. 

"I see that." Sousuke said with a smirk. "I was worried there for a bit that I'd surpass you so easily" he teased

"No way." Rin exclaimed and nudged his friend with his elbow as the two swam side by side towards their future. 

A few miles into the journey they passed over a seabed farm that was just outside the boarder of the city they had grown up in. Rin noticed the way Sousuke stared at the simple little farm. He looked at it with such curiosity and longing that the redhead knew just how much the raven wanted to own his own land. He also knew that the big oaf was too loyal of a son to choose it over his duty to take up the family title of royal guard. He would mention it, but they had discussed the issue before and it never lead anywhere. Instead he decided to distract the spotted tail with what was in their near future. 

" I can't wait to get there, I mean we finally get to find a person to spend our lives with." Rin said excitedly as he swam under his friend to gain his attention and block his view of the farm land they were nearly through.

"Well aren't you being such a hopeless romantic." Sousuke mumbled with a smirk. "I would have thought that you would have a mate picked out for you already, what with the pure blood obsession going around the reef shark population." the whale shark pointed added with a suspicious look. 

"No comment. I am not my extended family, and I do not let some old fashioned pedigree obsessed relatives run my life." Rin said and crossed his arms. In fact his great uncle had tried to do just that, but he was not going to go along with it just because some old geezer wanted to 'preserve' the 'purity' of the reef sharks." 

"Well, in any case I guess I am looking forward to finding a life partner, but I'm not to excited to sprout legs." the raven said looking at his tail.

"Oh, yeah... That's gonna suck. I heard it hurts really bad too." Rin mumbled and rubbed his dorsal fin as if he could already feel the change in shape. 

"Hey you two keep up! We don't want you getting lost or slowing the shiver down!" The head of the shiver called to the two who had slowed down while distracted in their discussion. "I know it's a bit of a fas pace, but if we keep it up, we'll make it to the cove by dawn." he said to the two when they caught up 

\---------=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=- + 

Makoto woke up to the sound of the sea washing against the shore. He opened his eyes to see Haru in his bathing suit stretching and getting ready for a nice long swim. He had thought for a few blissful moments that they were at swim training camp and all was well, then last nights events sprung up like weeds reminding him that he was here because he wasn't as normal as he thought he was. The disheartened brunette sat up and groggily wiped his eyes before making his way out of the tent they had set up last night. When he made it out of the tent he was star struck. 

The cove was beautiful, the water was so clear and blue that the nearly white beach sand under it seemed like a mirage. He didn't remember anyplace this beautiful being on the island. He looked around to try and figure out where they were exactly, but couldn't quite place it, it was no surprise either, last night was fairly dark and he was in shock from finding out he was half fish. 

The beach was populated with more tents, supposedly filled with other maturing fish folk. Rei and Nagisa crawled out of the tent next to his. with a "Morning Makoto." and a " Hi there Mako-chan!" he said good morning back, the realized something. 

"Wait, Nagisa, aren't you a little young to be here? I mean maturing?" the brunette asked, when both parties looked confused a spark of hope came over him and he added "I mean, if you don't know what I'm talking about then you have got to hear about the crazy dream I had last night, it'll make you laugh so hard." 

"It wasn't a dream." Haru said flatly as he exited the tent and paused in his way to the water just long enough to greet his friends. 

"I'm a fast maturer, not that it's anything to do with you!" Nagisa pouted, "Besides, am I young or are you just old? Mr late-bloomer!" he lashed out upset with being called immature and young.

"Coming of age for spawning is much like puberty, there is no given age, only a range of about six years, from 14-20. Nagisa may be small and misbehaved, but it is not so surprising given he is of clownfish origins." Rei explained while pushing up his glasses in a Rei like manner. 

"Clownfish?" Makoto asked and tilted his head to the side puzzling over the statement. 

"The species of fish that your tail appears as, also thought to be the origin fish ones ancestral roots are taken from." the boy with the red glasses explained. He readjusted his glasses once more and added in with an extra dose of pride, "I am a descendant of the beautiful butterflyfish, a beautiful creature, if I do say so myself" he said tooting his own horn. 

"Dolphin." was all Haru said as he appeared behind the group. Apparently the head of the training camp had found him trying to go for a swim and ordered that he not even touch the water. Needless to say Haru was not happy and it was openly showing. Well openly to his friends anyway.

"Oh, yeah, so what are you Mako-chan?" Nagisa said, having suddenly gotten over his pouting fit. "You're really big so you've gotta be something cool! Maybe a beluga, or a narwhal." the littlest in the group exclaimed excitedly.

"I don't know, some generic fish type? nobody told me I had to have an origin." the tallest of the group said with a blush. He looked around for something else to talk about, being reminded of how big and ignorant he was was not something he wanted to deal with right now. "By the way, where the hell are we?" he asked as he looked up hill, he could swear that he saw a guard rail of some sort at the top of the hill. He started towards it, only to be followed by the group.

"I wouldn't if I were you, we were told not to leave the barrier, especially during the day." Rei said as he followed at a distance.

Makoto stopped right a meter away from the guard rail, which was separating the road from the cove, the road that looked an awful lot like the one that was on the cliffside of the island. "barrier? Like as in magic?" he asked in disbelief.

"You are a part of a secret race of half human half fish beings and you don't believe in magic?' Haru asked, well more like stated.

"Oh, come on, that can't be-" Makoto cut himself off as he took another two steps towards the road only to turn and find that his friends were gone, and so was the cove, in fact he was now standing on the very edge of the cliff which he had known to run along a good part of the island. He jumped back and sat on the guard rail as his legs turned to jelly. Ok, so there really was some sort of magic barrier running around the cove.

The teen took a deep breath and looked over the edge of the cliff, it was far to realistic to not believe, the water turned at the bottom of the cliff and crashed loudly against the rocks in a threatening way. Part of him knew that he just needed to take a step, a leap of faith to be back in the cove, but it wasn't that easy to fight his own fear. All he could do was stare at the bottom of the cliff.

Suddenly there was a tall slender woman standing next to him, she tsked at him in annoyance. "I said not to leave the barrier, does no one listen to me?" she growled angrily. She then picked up the startled brunette and tossed him off the edge of the cliff, which was some feat given their size difference. Makoto closed his eyes thinking he would die, only to hit the grass and topple to the bottom of the hill. He stared back up the hill at the woman as she walked through the barrier like it was nothing.

"Listen up you lousy school of fry!" she announced getting everyones attention. "My name is Hanara Yuki, you will adress me a ma'm, or mistress, empress if you must. I am the woman in charge of training you and turning you into the merfolk you should be. Listen to my instructions and you will get through this spawning season smoothly, if you disobey me then I will make your life hell, do I make myself clear?!" she announced. When no one answer she repeated "Do I make myself CLEAR?!"

The camp was quickly filled with chorus of 'yes ma'm's. Then she continued on. "This morning we will be working on tail transformations and greeting the groups of other fry from the sea. Maybe they can teach you what it's like to be a real fish. For now breakfast is ready, report to the dining hut at the end of the beach for your slop." She announced and descended the hill. She stopped by Makototo say, "Don't do it again. I mean it, if you get stuck out there again I'm not coming to rescue you. Now head off to breakfast."

The boy nodded gratefully and scrambled to his feet to follow his friends to breakfast. He knew two things for sure now, he never wanted to get stuck out of the barrier again and he didn't want to cross Miss Yuki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm leaving it there for now, sorry my chapters are short.


	3. Getting Wet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, get your head out of the gutter, the chapter title's not supposed to be some 'that's what she said' joke...  
> Although that's what it turned out to be.  
> Ps, still not going to tell you what you are about to read. There is no point to it, you're going to read it anyways, right?  
> Now I'm just rambling. As always sorry about the grammar and spelling, hope you enjoy it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long, I've been in a bit of a slump for a while, plus my laptop broke and had to be sent in to get fixed.

Slop was right. Makoto stared at the mound of milky white mush piled across the dietary aid tray he held. The mass of gooey, runny, sticky, inconsistent improbability which had no place on the food chain defied the borders of the portion sections on his tray. The tray was designed to hold all the vitamins and nutrients a student would need in a meal with fool proof accuracy, portion sized imprints of each food group laid out clearly, yet the gruel was the only food served across the tray haphazardly. There were also large cups of cloudy water which were handed out to everyone. The only thing that looked normal was the large, refillable, water bottles that everyone got.

Makoto sat down at a table with his friends and they all stared at the mush they had been served. Nagisa was the first to dig his spoon into the mush, and Makoto was half expecting the white mass to swat the spoon away from itself when he did. However no such thing happened and Nagisa pulled away a heaping spoonful with a 'shlorp'. He stuffed it into his mouth and erupted into happy eating noises as he began to shovel more goop into his face. 

Rei and Makoto exchanged a cautious glance, they both knew from experience that Nagisa was not someone they should trust when it came to the taste of food. As the two considered their slop and the response of their designated shota Haru took a bite of his blob. The two turned their attention to the stoic teen expectantly, however his expression didn't change. 

"Well?..." Rei asked his black haired friend. 

"It's not mackerel." was all the teen said with a sigh.

Rei gave Makoto a look and they both just barely stopped themselves from face-palming. Why had they even bothered asking Haru, the mackerel addict, about food that little to nothing to do with his beloved fish. Though they both soon realized that Haru was still eating the goo, though begrudgingly for it was not his beloved morning mackerel. This was a good sign, Haru might be a mackerel buff, but he did also have a taste for food unlike Nagisa, his willingness to consume the muck must mean that it doesn't taste as bad as it looks. Realizing this Makoto took a bite of the mystery food.

"Oh!" Was all Makoto said. The mush was actually pretty tasty, sweet and mushy like pudding. But it was also milky and tasted of cinnamon and honey. He smiled encouragingly at Rei before continuing to eat the sloppy mass. 

"It's like oatmeal and pudding had a baby !" Nagisa exclaimed happily as he licked drops of spilt mush off of his hand happily.

"I can't eat it. It's not beautiful." Rei complained as he hesitated, spoon lingering above his meal.

Makoto drank a sip of the cloudy water without thinking as he watched Rei and Nagisa bicker over who was going to eat the remaining food on Rei's plate. To his surprise it was mint and lemon water. He finished it off happily and made his way to the beach like everyone else without a thought as to the strange meal.

\-----=-=-=------==-=---

On a small stage, which was actually a home-made dock, Hanara Yuki called for 'all of the annoying fry to gather up'. She stood above most if not all of the onlookers with her ash-brown hair blowing about her shoulders. On this beach she was the leader and she hella knew it. She made quick work of doing roll call and dividing the camp into two groups, which she named 'useless brats' and 'free fry'. The smaller of the two groups was the 'free fry' group, which Makoto and his friends were placed in. When the last person was sorted into one of the two groups the woman on the stage started what was starting to sound like a long introduction speech. 

"You all have been training and preparing all of your lives for this moment, which is sad, never the less I admire your hard work in preparation for the upcoming spawning, at least for the group of you that are prepared. Congratulations FREE FRY, you have me off of your back. As advanced swimmers there is nothing more that I can help you with, your task for the day is to simply jump in, swim around and do whatever feels natural. For the REST of you on the other hand, follow me to the shallows on the father most side, we will be doing swim training." With that Hanara Yuki walked off stage towards the opposite side of the beach with the rest of the students following after her.

Makoto stared in shock, the great strong fearless woman he'd come to respect and hoped to learn from had just told him to 'jump in and do what felt right'. She had gone from mentor to glorified swim teacher in under a minute. He couldn't believe it. He knew nothing about spawning or how the next two weeks were going to work out and yet she just walked off. He hesitantly shuffled after her for a moment before a hand landed on his shoulder. He turned to see Rei shaking his head. 

"It'll be ok, from what I hear learning to swim is the hardest part for most people. We all already know at least that. From here on out it's all about instinct and our own decision." he stated in a comforting manner. 

\-----------=-=-===-=----------==-=

Once we were all changed into their swimsuits the four teens met back at what was apparently designated as the 'freer fry' part of the beach. The water was deeper here and there was no ocean wall to block out the waves which came from the darkness of the sea. For a moment Makoto felt a shiver make its way down his spine, but he had faced this fear before and would no longer let it hold him back. 

Before even Haru had gotten into the water Hanara came jogging over the the group and a tiny spark of hope swelled up inside of Makoto. Maybe she had been joking earlier and she would teach them the trick to this spawning season stuff.

"Hey kids, here's the rules. You can swim for as long as you want so long as the sun is up, you get tired take a break, I don't care, so long as you are back on shore before sunset while you still have legs. If you get your tail you head out to the reef straight ahead, it's not that far. From there the home-fry will teach you about the underwater world and such." She turned to leave before remembering something and adding it to her lecture. "Don't be alarmed if someone walks onto the beach suddenly, it's probably a kid from the home-fry group who got their legs early. Flag 'em down and bring them ashore. Pette"- she pointed to the man who had served us breakfast-" will take care of them from there." and with that she left to teach the others how to swim, or at least how to not drown.

Almost the moment she turned her back there was a lout splash and Haru was in the water. He was quickly followed by Nagisa. Makoto and Rei shrugged and ran in after them. The water was refreshing, just cool enough to feel nice and just warm enough to feel welcoming. Though deep the waves were not as harsh as Makoto had been expecting and he was pleasantly surprised by the lack of struggle went into treading the waves that did come. After a few yards of swimming out of the cove the four teens grouped up again, which meant that Makoto had to reel in Haru who and tried to pull away more than once now. It was clear to the brunette that given the chance Haru would likely keep swimming out forever. 

"So, what do we do now?" Makoto asked the group.

"Well, no one really knows, it's very different from person to person." Rei explained. 

"I say we just swim as far as we can and have fun!" Nagisa exclaimed happily. 

"I second that." Haru said and started to swim off 

Apparently no one knew what was supposed to trigger this change and honestly playing around sounded good to Makoto. The group agreed to continue to swim out and around, so long as they stayed in a group. A few minutes later Makoto noticed that the rest of the 'Free Fry' swimmers had dropped off and started swimming in circles near some sort of above water outcropping or rocks. He didn't think much of it,the brunette assumed that it was just what the others had felt was right for them. 

__------_-___----___-------_____---- 

The shiver had arrived at the reef on the edge of the cove just before daybreak. Rin as a bit to excited upon arrival and refused to sleep, how could he while there was an entire beach to explore, he couldn't wait for classes to start up. So while the rest of the school slept while they could Rin slipped off to explore. To no surprise Sousuke followed after him. The red head knew that though the big spotted whale shark didn't show it he was just as excited about the spawning. 

Unfortunately a short while after leaving the reef the bigger shark fin had gotten lost and it was well after sunrise before Rin was able to find his directionally impaired friend. 

"What would you ever do without me?" Rin mocked when he finally found his stoic black haired friend playing with a bunch of sea anemones. 

"I'm sure I'd get by somehow." Sousuke replied with a smirk. 

The two swam for a while, desperate to find their way back to the school before classes started, but about halfway back they bumped into another member of the spawning school. The little penguin fish explained that they were told to swim around and get used to the waters, apparently it's unlikely that any of us will develop legs before next week. 

"We're supposed to head as far in to the cove as possible and adjust to the climate. Most of us are just swimming around out here though, if you want to join we're playing a game of bait." he explained. 

Rin looked at Sousuke for a moment before he shrugged and declined the offer to join the game of bait. The two sharks turned around an continued to explore the shallow waters. To humans the water would still seem very deep, but for deep sea creatures as them it was very different. For a long while they swam in a comfortable silence along the bottom of the waters. After a while Rin sighed, he realized that they were doing what they always did swimming deep in the water and ignoring whatever may be going on above them. It was so boring. 

"What are we doing! We should head up closer to the surface, we are going to be leaving the waters soon, we should get used to the surface." Rin suggested. 

"Sure, makes sense." was all that Sousuke said. 

The two swam up to just under the surface of the water and continued swimming. 

"See, it's not so bad up here, a little brighter, but ... Wow ok it's just as boring." Rin said a little disappointed at the lack of instant gratification for leaving his comfort zone. Just as he was about to suggest they give up and go back to the bottom again he was something in the distance. 

"Hey, what's that? Is that what I think it is? It is! Look humans!" Rin yelled excitedly and took off at top speed towards the legs and arms that were splashing their way through the water. 

When Sousuke caught up to Rin the reef shark was circling just out of view and reach of the group of swimmers. The two of them quietly followed the group for a while before they all stopped their progression and grouped up to tread water and talk to one another, their voices garbled beneath the water. For a moment Rin thought they had spotted him and Sousuke, but when that didn't seem apparent He turned to Sousuke with an evil grin. 

"wanna see something hilarious?" The red head giggled to his big friend before swimming up closer to the surface. 

Before Sousuke could say anything Rin was gone, swimming circles around the group of humans just below the surface. Rin made sure that his dorsal fin was showing as he circled the swimmers and waited for the terror to set in. Which it did of course. This is going to be great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, in case anyone was wondering the goop they were eating was cream of rice. It really is as explained. I was supposed to go into detail about why they served tis meal, but I think I'll save it for the next chapter.


	4. Shark Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nom Nom, Nom Nom Nom! Shark Attack!

Makoto's legs had been tightening and cramping for a while by the time the group had made it to the open water half way between the cove and reef. It hadn't bothered him much but as the cramping pain started to build his stomach had also started to act up. Suddenly he knew why the rest of the free fry had stopped near outcroppings and rocks, it was so they didn't drown when they got weak from swimming for so long. They had never thought about the possibility of the group swimming themselves tired. In fact they hadn't considered the swim back at all. This was because normally it took a lot longer for the swim club to reach exhaustion, but for some reason today was different for Makoto. 

He was feeling twice as tired as he normally would have been this far into a swim. He called out to the group and they all gathered up, even Haru who must have been concerned by the tone of distress in Makoto's voice. 

"What's wrong Makoto-chan?" Nagisa asked his slightly pale friend. 

"Hey guys, I'm not feeling to well, I think I'm gonna head back in for a bit and rest." the brunette explained as another rolling wave of aches and pains ran through his legs and lower back.

"Well, o-" Rei started only to stop whatever he was going to say and point out the dorsal fin that was making its way around the group in tight circles. "Shark." he half mumbled in a mixture of shock and awe. 

Makoto watched the fin glide through the water next to him, it was a terrifying sight, but also somewhat beautiful, no one in the group had never been this close to a living marine animal. They all froze where they were, not sure what to do. 

"Remain - ack!." Makoto said trying to calm the group before a really sharp pain in his legs and stomach made it to hard to breath let alone speak. He concentrated on taking deep breathes to ride out the pain, too distracted to be of much help in the current situation. 

"Teeth!" was what Nagisa shouted in response to Makoto's painful noise, thinking that the larger teen had been bitten. "Sharks have teeth, we're going to be eaten!" He continued and grabbed onto Rei like he was a lifeboat. 

Rei let out a garbled "Calm down." As Nagisa tried to sink the blue haired boy under the oncoming waves. After a short struggle he managed to untangle the blond from his body and regain his breathing rights. "Freaking out wont help anyone Nagisa. See, Haru-san is fine, he's even petting the thing and-" Rei cut himself off as he realized what he was seeing. Haru was playing with the shark, petting its tail like it was some tame dolphin.

Makoto momentarily forgot his pain as he took in the scene before him. As it was Rei and Nagisa nearly sank from shock of what they were all witnessing. Haru was calmly running is hands down the tail of the shark as it swam past him. On its next pass by him the stoic raven grabbed onto the dorsal fin to get a ride from the sharp toothed fish. The ride didn't last very long though as the dorsal fin slid back into the water. For a moment they all feared that the shark had decided it was hungry and was about to charge them, well all except for Haru who was upset that the shark had left. A moment later something came back into view of the group and Nagisa once again leapt at Rei. 

What broke the surface of the water, however, was not a head full of sharp teeth, okay yes it was, but not a shark head. Instead a blushing redhead bobbed his way out of the water next to Haru. 

"Don't play with my tail like that!" the shark finned redhead grumbled at the stoic teen who simply tilted his head slightly. 

"Oh, you must be one of the home fry Hanara-chan was talking about." Nagisa exclaimed finally releasing the waterlogged Rei. 

"Home fry?" Asked a deep voice behind the group. 

Everyone turned to see another person who had popped out of nowhere, supposedly another merperson from the ocean. He was larger that the redhead, even bigger than Makoto, at least from what they could see of him. He also had black hair and bright teal eyes. To be honest they were not quite what Makoto had been expecting when he heard the word merfolk. He was anticipating big fish eyes and scales all over their skin, but what little skin was showing from underneath the mayan styled shirts they were wearing was smooth and very human like.

"It. Is. The. Name. Our. Group. Leader. Gave. To. The. Merfolk. From. The. Ocean." Nagisa said and continued while gesturing to the finned mermen" You. From. Ocean... Home. Fry." then he gestured to himself and the group. "We. From. Land... Free. Fry." finally he gestured to everyone. "Both. Merfolk." he finished.

The two finned individuals looked at the blond like he was an alien for a moment. While Rei face-palmed in the background and Makoto blushed. Normally Makoto would have eased everything by reiterating what Nagisa should have said but he was distracted once more by another wave of pain running through his body.

"ME. NO. UNDERSTAND." The redhead said in a sarcastic growl. "Being from the ocean doesn't make us deaf or dumb." he retorted with a scowl. 

Nagisa looked around at all of the disapproving faces and shrugged, "How was I supposed to know?" he mumbled.

"Maybe the fact that he spoke perfect english to Haru not even a minute ago should have been a clue." Rei commented.

"Well, maybe that was my way at getting back at them for playing such a mean prank on us!" Nagisa pouted.

Makoto let out a deep breath he didn't know he had been holding as the pain dissipated and was suddenly gone completely. He played it off as having been tired out by Nagisas, Nagisaness. 

Makoto debated for a while and decided to stick around while he was still feeling good so as not to be rude to the ocean dwellers. If the pain started up again he would head back in though. 

"That was kind of mean, but Nagisa you don't have to be rude." Makoto scolded slightly before addressing the ocean dwellers. "So, now that we are through with the terrifying icebreaker shall we introduce ourselves? I mean we will be going through spawning together right?"

With a shrug the two nodded. "Ok, but lets play a game to find out more about eachother." Rin suggested. When the group all seemed to agree to the game Rin continued. "Its a game of bait, the person who is it hunts the rest and as he catches people they have to say one fact about themselves. Everyone who gets caught becomes bait and has to help find the rest of the group. People caught by bait exchange facts with the person who caught them too." Rin explained. 

"So who's it first?" Makoto asked. 

"Makoto san, I thought you were feeling unwell." Rei pointed out with concern. 

"I feel fine now, must have been tired is all" Makoto waved off his friends concern. "Oh, and you two don't go too deep underwater, keep the game fair." Makoto said pointing to the two finned individuals.

With the rules laid out the game was underway. After a long round of rock paper scissors the first person to be it was decided and the group dispersed, save Rei who was left to count down from 100. Around ten games later everyone had at least one fact about each of their friends that they didn't know before the game began. The ocean dwellers also felt like they had been a part of the group forever. It really was a great way to bond.

Rin discovered that; Haruka loves mackerel, Rei is obsessed with beauty, Nagisa always wanted a younger sibling, Makoto has twin siblings and Sousuke's mom used to sing him to sleep.

Haru found out that; Rei liked gardening, to try and grow taller Nagisa once drank milk until he was sick, When Makoto heard about SIDs he started sneaking into his younger siblings room to watch over them while they slept, Sousuke is a whale shark, not a whale,and Rin has a younger sister who is 'boy crazy'.

Rei learned that; Nagisa used to have a stuffed penguin named Perry that he took everywhere, Makoto can't draw but he can paint, Sousuke grew up with Rin in a city called Debeah, Rin's father was killed by poachers and Haru's father chose the sea after his first spawning and has never come back.

Nagisa discovered that; Makoto ran away from home in protest when he first found out about his little siblings, Sousuke grew up training to be a member of the royal guard, Rin has two fathers, Haru kissed Makoto once to scare off a stalker, and Rei is the tallest member of his family.

Makoto found out that; Sousuke is an only child, Rin's goal is to become a member of the royal guard that protects his hometown, Haru is slightly intimidated by Makoto's mother, Rei likes Nagisa but hasn't told anyone until now, and Nagisa wanted to grow up to be as tall as Makoto for a long time.

Sousuke learned that; Rin used to dress up and attend his sisters make believe events, Haru's best friend is Makoto so don't mess with him, Rei brings 3 pairs of glasses with him everywhere just in case, Nagisa believes in aliens and Makoto only discovered he was merfolk last night.

After all of the talking a swimming six of them felt like they were the best of friends. However all of the legged swimmers were getting very tired, so they all decided to head in for a break after one last round of bait. This time Makoto was it.

He finished counting down and noticed that his leg pain had come back, but felt slightly different. The blinding pain from before was now a more numb pain deep in his muscles. Never the less he ignored it to continue the game, they would be back on land soon anyways. Halfway through the game the numbing pain had spread to take over most of his body. He only had to find Sousuke, Haru and Rei but the pain took over and he had to abandon his friends. Makoto finally decided to start swimming back towards the shore when everything started to get tipsy and spiny. He was half way to the edge of the cove when his body started convulsing and he threw up and began to sink under the waves.

He choked and coughed up more of his breakfast as well as most of his air as he sank deeper and deeper into the sea. He curled in on himself to try and relieve the pain which had begun to tingle deep within his bones. He coughed up more air and milky half digested slop as he slipped closer to the bottom of the open water.

No one ever tells you what its like to drown, but its terrifying and cold. Makoto was sure that this was the last bit of breath he had in his body and held onto it for as long as he could, but the pain tore its way through his chest and pushed the breath out, birthed into bubbles the air drifted towards the surface. It was a full 30 seconds after that that Makoto blacked out. Thirty seconds of realized terror, of knowing there was no hope left, and in that short time the brunette felt the sandy bottom of the ocean under him. As his vision tunnelled and started to fade all that the teen could see was the sky, broken and fractured by the waves and oh so very far off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, that is where I'm going to leave off. Have fun until the next chapter XD


	5. Drowning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes life changes, sometimes it just ends.

The group of merteens had been having a great time swimming around in the open ocean and getting to know one another. The legged four had been chasing after their two slightly more fishy companions like it was nothing, which was quite a feat, and over all a good time was had by all. They were in the middle of their las game before breaking for lunch when Makoto disappeared. 

Rin and Nagisa were still searching for Haru and Rei, non the wiser to their friends situation. Sousuke was the first to notice the absence of the brunette as he had been waiting for Makoto to find him gliding just beneath the surface of the water behind the teen. However the normally observant teen was distracted and had swum right past him. The whale shark hovered where he was, staring after the brunette as e went, wondering if he had spotted a glimpse of Rei off in the distance. Whatever the reason Sousuke was slightly glad that he hadn't been caught by Makoto, he was running out of things to say and was worried that he might say something he would regret if he was faced by those shining emeralds. 

Nearly ten minutes passed before Rin appeared and 'caught' Sousuke. The two stared at eachother a moment, Rin waiting for Sousuke to say something with a triumphant and expecting look. 

Sousuke sighed "The brunette's cute." was all he said, knowing that Rin would understand what he meant and hopefully just leave him be about it. 

He had no such luck as the reef shark swam circles around him as they made their way back towards the group. Giving a smug grin and raising his eyebrows suggestively. "So where is your cute little Makoto?" Rin asked and elbowed the bigger teen. 

"He went off to find Rei or Haru." Sousuke said and pointed in the direction that Makoto had swam off to.

"Well, that's not right." Rin said as he stopped swimming and looked towards where the raven had pointed. "We already found Rei and Haru, they were off that way." Rin said and gestured almost the exact opposite direction. 

"Hmm, that's weird." Sousuke mumbled concerned. The two finned merfolk stared off towards where their new friend supposedly was distractedly. They didn't even notice the rest of the group join them until Haru grabbed onto Rin's dorsal fin. They were just about to surface and talk to the legged teens when they felt it. 

It was faint and fading fast, but it was a merperson in distress, not to far from the opening of the cove. The same direction that Makoto has swum off in. Sousuke was moving before he knew it, years of training to be a royal guard kicking in. He could feel the fear and desperation coming off of the struggling merfolk in waves. It was getting stronger the closer he got to the cove and dread began to fill the pit in his stomach as he realized he couldn't spot the brunette on the beach. Then just as suddenly as it started the distressed sonar was gone. 

Rin and the others had tried to keep up with the whale shark as he darted through the waves after the most likely injured or caught merperson, but they were not as fast as their finned friend and Rin was having a hard time locking in on the sonar signal. One thing was for sure though, the redhead didn't want to be the one to tell the three that Makoto might be the cause of this sudden race towards the shoreline. 

All signs of distress had disappeared but Sousuke knew that something was still wrong, blame it on he seventh sense if you will but deep inside the teen knew that there was someone he needed to help. The raven swam right past it the first time, barely catching the strange shape below him as he swam desperately towards the shore, but then he realized just what he thought he saw and made a u-turn to go back to the spot. 

There he was, laying unmoving on the ocean floor. The brunette was curled in on himself, his orca tail ticked up under him as he slouched lifelessly over the limb. His skin was sickly pale and not breathing or moving. Sousuke had to do a double take before he realized that the killer whale was indeed the brunette he'd befriended and become attached to. 

"Makoto?" he called out to the teen as he swam down to where the orca lay. "Are you ok?" he asked a little more alarmed that the slightly smaller boy had not yet responded. 

Makoto's body bobbed as a strong wave rolled past them and Sousuke realized in a panic that the orca was far from okay. He grabbed at Makoto's arm and was alarmed at how cold it was. It did not bode well for the whale, it immediately became apparent that the orca had no air in his lungs and had drowned. Knowing that the brunette needed air Sousuke hoisted Makoto into his arms and swam him up to the surface as fast as possible. 

When they breached the surface of the water Sousuke's arms were clutched around the immobile form of the orca and yet as tightly as he held Makoto to him, his arms still felt like jelly. He lifted the smaller teen further out of the water until he rested on Sousuke's shoulder.

Sousuke began smacking Makoto on the back trying to get him to breath or cough up the water, but nothing was working. He swam them both to a nearby outcropping and leant Makoto onto the rocks and began CPR compressions. After 30 compressions Sousuke leant down and connected his mouth to Makotos and exhaled a deep breath into the brunettes lungs. The entire time the raven was terrified that Makoto wasn't coming back. 

Another thirty compressions and a breath and Rin had caught up and sat in a horrified shock behind his friend and the companion he was trying to revive. Another round of compressions and Haru had joined in, sitting quietly beside Rin, gripping the redheads hand for dear life. Another deep long breath into Makoto's lungs, another little bit of dribble of water out of the corner of the orca's mouth. 

Thirty more compressions and Sousuke began to feel the anxiety and fear creep into his throat and gasped for a breath to give the brunette lying like a doll under him. Another breath, another small amount of air pushed out from Makoto's throat. Nagisa and Rei had arrived and clung to eachother on a nearby rock. 

Another thirty compression and the group was choking back tears trying not to loose hope for their friend. Souske's arms were shaking as he gave another compression and desperately slammed his hands down onto Makoto's chest. 

"Please, Makoto, breathe!" he yelled on the edge of losing it. He took in another deep breath and bushed it into the orcas lungs. 

 

Then the brunette finally started to cough, and cough and throw up allover himself, bringing up all of the water in his lungs. Sousuke rolled him over onto his side and patted his back while he tossed and spewed the last of the water out and began to take in deep, shaky breaths. The group let out a breath they didn't know they had been holding and wiped away there tears. Makoto panted desperately and his limbs trembled with weakness, he looked around with lidded eyes before once more passing out, this time alive and breathing. 

Sousuke scooped the orca up in his arms, gently cradling Makoto's head on his chest and shoulder while draping his tail over his other arm. The raven swam the sleeping teen to the shore and lay him on the sand gently before sliding up next to him, both of their tails still bobbing in the waves. 

~--=-=_+_+=-=-=--`~~

Makoto woke half an hour later cuddled up in something warm. His eyes were still blurry and his throat and head hurt like hell, but surprisingly he was alive. He rubbed his eyes until they focused and looked around. There was still a dull ache throughout his body which made moving a bit harder than he had hoped. The newly revived teen stretched and sat up, only to realize that he was cuddled up next to the whale shark on the beach. 

"Sousuke-san?" Makoto mumbled before realizing how close he was to the other sleeping teen and desperately trying to jump back out of the snoozing sharks personal bubble. 

The sudden motion only succeeded in making the orca dizzy and tipping him over face first into the sand. When he sat up to figure out what he was caught on Makoto was surprised to find that his legs were no more. Instead he had a big tail sprouting out of the lower half of his body. It was long and smooth, smaller than the whale shark tail it was twined around, but still much bigger than he had imagined and not nearly a scaly. I took him a minute to realize what the tail was, he'd never really thought that he would be a killer whale. He traced the pattern of white and black down for a bit and was almost shocked when he could feel this own hand touching the thing that was now his lower half. A large wave made its way to the tip of his fin and he was once more shocked. 

While Makoto molested his own tail, poking and prodding at the foreign flesh Sousuke stirred and woke up beside him. When he looked around he noticed two things, Makoto had finally woken up from the brink of death, and the tide had gone out while they had slept and they were beached. It would be a pain in the ass to get un beached, but that didn't matter right now because his orca was awake, alive and breathing, and really confused. 

"You are alive, you transformed and nearly died on us earlier." the raven haired teen said as he poked his beached buddies tail. "take your time resting, our friends have gone back out to swim some more in the cove."

Makoto stared off into the cove and surely enough there were his friends swimming around after one another this time staying close to the shallows and or nearby outcroppings, they all had learned vicariously from the orca that transforming into your fins could prove lethal. Makoto let out a long sigh and lay back onto the sand and covered his eyes with his hands. 

He had nearly died and what did he have to show for his life? He had been the good boy, the safe boy the sweet boy and he wouldn't change that, but he had nothing to show for it. He had never been in love, the only time he had even kissed anybody was that one time with Haruka and that-- His mind cut itself off as he turned towards the whale shark next to him. His green eyes locked onto the dazzling teal ones and he realized that someone had probably given him CPR, meaning someone had kissed him. He turned beet red before he could stop himself. 

"Who resuscitated me?" he mumbled trying not to think if it as a kiss, just mouths exchanging air. It doesn't mean anything it's just Mouths touching, briefly to breath life back into his lungs.

"I did of course." Sousuke explained with a confused look on his face. "Like I'd let anyone else-" he cut himself off as he realized just how possessive he was being of the orca, dam it. He was supposed to play it cool, not become helplessly attached to one of the first person he met. He lounged there on the beach very conflicted, on one hand he had almost gone mad with grief when he thought that he was going to lose the cute little orca back there and his instincts were screaming to keep Makoto close and safe, but on the other hand he didn't want to scare the teen off and it was stupidly embarrassing to show that he had become so attached so fast, the practically, no literally just met, then again spawning was mostly about instinct and it was common for merfolk to chose a mate before really getting to know anything about them, all instincts in a way. 

Makoto stared at the other teen and blushed even harder, if that were possible. He wasn't exactly sure what to say, but he felt like there was some connection between them, which was stupid and he knew it. Then again if he was right then the black haired boy before him had feelings for him. 

He was about to talk, ask about anything to move on from the subject when Haru walked up to them. He had abandoned Rin for the first time since they met and stood there staring down at Makoto who stared back up at him and gave a weak smile and a "I'm feeling much better Haru." 

Haru nodded, then briefly looked over to the whale shark, at first in appreciation of having saved his friend, but then in warning as he picked up Makoto under his arms and dragged him back into the water, not far, just far enough that the waves lapped around his naval. Haru and Makoto sat together in the shallows of the water without speaking for a while before Haru finally spoke. "Don't do it again." he said and leaned an arm on the brunette and splashed him with water.

The two began a splashing war which Makoto won when he managed to swing his tail out of the water high enough that the impact as it came back down sent a large amount of water crashing down over both of them. 

It was quite a sight to see, Makoto laughed so hard that he nearly fell over while Haru shook the excess water from is hair. Sousuke watched on a little jealous from the beach. He sat there forgotten and a little stuck. He had started trying to shimmy his way back into the water as he was getting a little too dry for his liking but had gotten stuck. There was a guffaw from the edge of the water and Rin grabbed him by the tail and started dragging him none too gracefully back into the water. 

The group played in the shallows of the cove until Makoto had gotten the hang of swimming and holding his breath as he dived, which wasn't really new, but still something to get used to now that he could hold his breath for what felt like forever, in comparison to how long he used to be able to hold it for at least. They had started a game of chase in the deeper part of the cove so that Makoto could get used to the speed and agility he now had with his new tail. 

No one even noticed when Haru made his change, one minute he was chasing after them through the reeds and seaweed, legs kicking behind him and the next he was bounding after them, dolphin tail propelling him forward. He seemed confused when they all stopped and stared at him in awe. 

By sunset they all had transformed into their tails. Nagisa and Rei would fight over whom had the better tail between the two of them and Rin was amused by the fact that a dolphin had become so attached to him, though he had to admit the attachment was rubbing off on him. The two would take turns grabbing onto eachothers dorsal fin and being dragged by the other. Haru had tried the same with Makoto but when he touched the orcas fin he made an 'eep'ing noise and froze with a huge blush spread across his face, it has surprised him and really tickled. 

"Haru, don't that tickles." Makoto whimpered and tried to swat at his friend as the dolphin continues tho tickle at the orcas fin, causing the bigger teen to laugh and wiggle while trying to escape. All the while Haru was throwing an evil grin Sousukes way as if to say, 'see, my friend look what I can get away with and you can't'. Finally Rin grabbed onto Haru and Sousuke pulled Makoto free from the tickling torment. 

The rest of the twilight the group raced eachother through the reeds and seaweed and coral of the reef. They would make it back to where the school had set up base in the reef before dark, and start learning about spawning and what it was like to be a merman in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, so I just realized that I've been using reeds a lot and I was just hoping that you all understand that I am a lake baby, I have only ever seen the ocean once and therefore know little to nothing about oceanic plants.  
> Here in lakes you've got moss, algae, sand and clay on the floor of the water and reeds and seaweed growing up out towards the surface from the bottom. Seaweed looks like really long blades of grass and reeds are like a soft stalk with tiny little leaves growing out from it.  
> I have no clue if these are also the same in the ocean so just please don't hassle me too much. (i know the sea also has seaweed, just different)


	6. Under da Sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day after they turned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my name is distracted. I have just gotten a full time job and am sorry for the long wait for this chapter.  
> Also I'm writing on my phone while on break so pleas be lenient when it comes to spelling and Grammer.  
> Be warned auto correct hates me.

Haruka's first morning as a merman was quite interesting. He had awoken on a shelf of a small coral reef off the coast of the island he had called home. He was high on the reef so that he could easily reach the surface to breath. However this was slightly difficult to do at the moment as he was in tangled with his redheaded shark. This caused quite a dilemma as he was in need of air, however his sweet shark had just snuggled up comfortably, then again air was important. After much debate he reluctantly untangled himself and started his assent to the endless supply of oxygen above water. 

On his way he bumped into a very sleepy looking Makoto. The orca was tired enough that he didn't even notice that Haru approached, or react when he grabbed onto the larger boys tail for a ride to the surface. A few breaths later and both boys were on their way back to their separate reef beds and sharks. Haruka had just snuggled back into the arms of his cute redhead when said shark awoke and woke the dolphin in turn. In fact the entire inhabitants of the reef were waking and getting ready for what Haru suspected was going to be a busy day.

Makoto and the annoying shark that clung to him appeared and so did Nagisa and Rei. The six of them all gathered with the other 'homefry' and made their way to the open ocean. Haru leading the group followed closely by the two sharks, while the dolphin admittedly didn't know where he was going or why he swam full force in the direction all of the merfolk were headed. Meanwhile the tired and confused three trailed behind and pondered the reason for this early morning swim. 

"Possibly this is some drill, like a fire drill." Rei mumbled confused.

"Rei, we're underwater, I don't think they need such plans. Not many fire emergencies down here under the sea." Nagisa pointed out cheekily.

"You know what I meant! Maybe there was something dangerous approaching the reef!" Rei exclaimed exasperatedly. 

"Maybe its just morning exercise, you know like yoga or jogging, just an activity to keep us well rejuvenated." Makoto suggested through yawns. 

"Could just be a stupidly early class." Nagisa whined and began to pout. 

All speculations ended as there arrival brought new questions to the surface. The sunlight was just starting to glow into the darkness of the open ocean and already the large group of young merfolk were busy rushing this way and that. Some setting up nets and others vanishing out of sight hastily. Two of such were the guides and sharks of the four known as the 'free fry'. The four lingered by the nets of what seemed to be steel and wondered what they should do. 

Haru was about to swim after the two sharks when said teens sped up and vanished into the blue water of the open ocean. There was a few moments of confused silence before the cloud could be seen on approach. For a few moments the mass looked like a silver cloud glinting in the early light. As it grew closer the realization dawned on Haru and he took off into the cloud. 

The massive schools of fish had been herded off of their migration path by the groups of mer-teens and a hunt had begun. The two sharks had proudly round up a fairly substantial school of mackerel and the rest of the group copied others as they worked on herding most of it into waiting nets and spears. Of coarse this was the best gift anyone could have given Haruka and he showed his appreciation awkwardly in brief but meaningful brushes and touches along his redheads tail and hands. Small signs of affection that he gave to very few, including his own family. 

Haru had managed to devour an entire mackerel raw before anyone could stop him.

"Haru, you know you can cook them." Rin said as he flicked a switch on his spear and the device sent a current through the rod, beginning to heat the skewered fish from the inside out. 

The nets seemed to work in a similar fashion and soon food was being passed among the young merfolk. Mostly fish, but some other ingredients, such as a dense bread like substance that was quite good. 

"So is breakfast always 'eat what you catch' as a merman?" Rei asked as he ate. 

"No, this is the equivalent of migration. Just temporary set up while out of the city. " Rin explained and passed half a cooked mackerel to Haru. 

"So like camping! that's what we are doing on the beach." Nagisa exclaimed.

When the morning feast was over the mer-teens all went out for what the instructor called a "team building and bonding exercise" it was essentially just a big game of manhunt played throughout the reef. More often than not Haru was hiding with Rin or Makoto. After the first round Makoto had been ragged into hiding with a group of larger whales as many of the hiding spots on the reef the smaller teens were using were uncomfortable for him to squeeze into. It was also about this tome when Haru's first "problem" appeared.

Haru and his shark had just gotten cozy in a great hiding place in the reef when the third wheel first appeared. This wheel came int the form of a smaller reef shark named Ai, and Haru was not amused. Friend or not the little predator was getting too close to his redhead and by the third game the brat had even managed to separate him and wander off with Rin to chat alone.

Obviously this was not very pleasant to observe, and Haru would have done something about it had Rin not looked almost equally annoyed with the situation. There was also a situation going on behind the reef that seemed to need his attention more at the time as well. It was clear though, all hell would break lose if Ai was still hanging off of his shark like he was when he got back.

____-==-=-=-==----__+__++-___

The day had been going so well, what happened? Makoto thought to himself as he held his throbbing cheek still reeling from the hit he'd just taken.

The game had been fun, the freshly shifted fry were all getting along with the merteens from the deep and bonding while swimming in the glow of the morning. The group had been separating and reforming on and off again as the games had progressed and new friends were being made while others were hiding elsewhere. At the time Nagisa had joined Makoto in the larger hiding areas where the whales and bigger merfolk hid. The little clownfish swam circles around the bigger guys to escape, it was quite an amusing feat.

Halfway through a game their hiding area got a bit crowded and on their way to escape the crowd for more room Nagisa got caught between a blue whale and a hunchback he tried to squeeze through but managed to get hit by the blue whale's tail and into the hunchback's tail, which he clung onto for a moment while trying to readjust his trajectory to freedom.

The hunchback was not amused, he was outraged, he was disgusted he was angry. He started yelling at the blond and cursing and flailing, and Nagisa didn't react well either, he apologized at first, but as the whales anger grew and grew Nagisa became annoyed with the overreaction and pointed out how ridiculous he guy was being about the situation.

Makoto didn't even manage to get a word in before he saw the swing heading towards his friend and acted on instinct. He had planned on just moving Nagisa out of harms reach, but missed and wound up simply covering for his friend and taking the blow full force to the right side of his face.

What a great first two days of spawning season, nearly drowning and getting punched by a whale. What an odd life they he had began.

If only it had ended with the one punch. Nagisa had been outrage at the violence and went swinging after the hunchback who returned the aggression in kind. They were flailing at eachother while being held back, Nagisa by Makto and the hunchback by the blue whale. Haru showed up and a few others and put an end to the fight , but not before the dolphin, sneakily, got his vengeful jab in.

After convincing his friends he was ok makoto agreed to let the blue whale escort him to the medical sector to get examined. Meanwhile Nagisa was being scolded by Rei and Haru had gone off to find his shark and Sousuke.

"That was really cool of you." the blue whale said as he swam along the orca.

"I wasn't aiming for cool. I just didn't want my friend to get hurt." Makoto explained.

"You have one hell of a lucky friend then. Not many friends would take a punch for them, its really loyal and sweet that you would." the lager whale chuckled nervously. "My name's Rico by the way, what's yours?" 

"I'm Makoto. nice to meet you Rico." Makoto introduced himself politely, dispite it beginning to hurt to move his mouth, and face in general. 

Rico looked as if he was about to say something when suddenly Sousuke popped up seemingly out of nowhere and interrupted him.

"What happened?" he asked with a stern, yet concerned face as he lightly assessed the damage done to Makoto's face. "Are you hurt anywhere else? Who did this to you?" he questioned.

"Kipko go overly aggressive again and Makoto here got between him and his intended target." Rico explained "I was just taking him to the med bed." he added when the whale-shark gave him a confused look. 

Sousuke looked outrages and Makoto grabbed onto him in hopes to filter out the anger, which it did. A few conflicted moments later Sousuke dismissed his anger, for now, and took over Rico's position in escorting the orca to the med bed. 

Not to far out off of the reef on the seabed was the med bed, a small bubble looking structure in which they housed the medical and emergency equipment. Once examined by the med machine inside it was determined that, besides major hormone imbalances that come with spawning Makoto only had some minor bruising and was administered a salve to reduce swelling and pain.

"Wow..." was all Makoto could say. "It's not what I expected. I mean we were sleeping on a reef shelf, I didn't think that you should have such advanced technologies, I mean that mirror just gave me a medical exam and then pop, the little bubble with my meds showed up out of nowhere. I mean how did that even work?" makoto raved "Is all of your tech like that?"

"Yeah, we pretty much rough it while out here to spawn, but the cities are amazing, we are very advanced, I mean we had genetic manipulation technology way before the top worlders even thought of it as a possibility, so we're a bit more advanced."Sousuke explained "If i tried to explain how it worked your brain would melt, but lets just say all under water tech involves tech and nature, lots of living organisms within our culture, organic microbots and living home design being a small example." 

"I have no idea what your trying to explain but it sounds amazing" makoto gushed. 

"Well thats ok, you'll be learning about it all week. As part of the choice between land and sea you'll be schooled in life in the ocean, as we will be taught about how life on land works." Sousuke explained and applies a layer of the salve to the wound carefully.

_++__+++===-+_+_=-=_=_=_=_=_=_+_--___+_=-=-+_+_

The entire week had been a bunch of small battles. The battles against ignorance as the teens were dragged into schooling on how life in the ocean worked. Small battles between Ai and Haru for Rins attention and the small fights between Rico and Sousuke for the attention of the oblivious orca. Did I mention the battle between Nagisa and scholastics? 

It was a hard feat but slowly the group grew to understand merpeople and their culture. Such as tail touching was seen as an intimate thing that was only shared between family and lovers, this being specifically placing ones hands on an others tail, the only exception to this was in emergency situations. There were of corse other ways that tail touching was ok or not, bumping tail to tail in a crowded area was ok, tangling tails with another was a sign of extreme intimacy, these went on. 

However by the end of the week their training was considered over and they were taught how to shift back into human legs to walk once again on the shore, for now it was the sea-teens turn to shift and take up lessons on the land. 

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for all mistakes I make, I'm writing this cause I can't sleep right now. I also naturally suck at spelling and grammar, so... yeah, don't judge me please.


End file.
